Digital noise reduction techniques

1. Apparatus for reducing random noise in video pixels having digital pixel values by processing the pixel values, said apparatus comprising: a memory arranged to store filtered pixel first values corresponding to first pixels processed by the apparatus during a first time period; a motion detector responsive to differences between the first values and pixel second values corresponding to second pixels processed by the apparatus during a second time period later than the first time period to generate corrected motion signals representing detected motion of images represented by the first pixels relative to motion of images represented by the second pixels; a first filter responsive to the corrected motion signals and the differences between the first values and second values to generate first filtered values; an impulse detector arranged to perform a step impulse detecting process and to generate control signals in response to detection of step impulses represented by the second pixels; and an impulse reducer responsive to the first filtered values and the control signals to generate second filtered pixel values.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second pixels correspond to lines comprising a horizontal first line and a horizontal second line, wherein a pixel being processed lies in the first line, wherein the images define edges and wherein the motion detector comprises: a third filter responsive to pixels in the first and second lines and responsive to the differences between the first values and the second values to generate initial motion signals representing an estimate of the detected motion of images; and a transfer function module arranged to generate the corrected motion signals in response to the initial motion signals and characteristics of the images.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the apparatus further comprises an image sequence characterization module arranged to sum die initial motion signals for the second line to generate horizontal line motion signals, and wherein the transfer function module generates the corrected motion signals in response to the horizontal line motion signals.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the transfer function module comprises a programmable module that modifies the initial motion signals in response to coefficients and wherein the apparatus further comprises an image sequence characterization module arranged to generate low motion signals having values derived from the second pixels corresponding to motion of one or more of the images less than a predetermined first threshold and to generate high motion signals having values derived from the second pixels corresponding to motion of one or more of the images greater than a predetermined second threshold, and wherein the coefficients are varied in response to at least one of the low motion signals and the high motion signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, wherein the images represent edges and wherein the characteristics of the images comprise: the proportion of the area representing one or more of the images with motion greater than a predetermined first threshold or less than a predetermined second threshold; the relation of the pixel being processed to one or more of the edges; and a change in the vertical direction of one or more of the images.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction and wherein the transfer function module is ranged to generate the corrected motion signals in response to the initial motion signals, in response to the second pixels corresponding to motion of one or more of the images beyond a threshold, in response to the relationship of the pixel being processed to one or more of the edges, in response to the relationship of the pixel being processed to a change of motion of one or more of the images in the vertical direction, and in response to the value of the pixel being processed.

7. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the third filter comprises: a horizontal filter module responsive to the differences between the first values and the second values and responsive to pixel values in the horizontal first line to generate horizontal filtered signals; and a vertical filter module responsive to the horizontal filtered signals and pixel values in the first and second lines to generate the initial motion signals.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the horizontal filter module comprises: an absolute value operator arranged to generate absolute values corresponding to the differences between the first values and the second values; a median filter arranged to generate median filtered values in response to the absolute values; and a finite impulse response filter responsive to the median filtered values to generate the horizontal filtered signals.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction and wherein the transfer function module comprises: a look up table defining a programmable transfer function altered in response to one or more of the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images less than a predetermined first threshold and the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images greater than a predetermined second threshold, the look up table being arranged to generate first modified motion signals in response to the initial motion signals; an edge detector responsive to the horizontal filtered signals to generate edge signals indicating one or more of the edges; an arithmetic operator arranged to combine the edge signals with the first modified motion signals to generate second modified motion signals; a horizontal line motion control module arranged to modify the second modified motion signals to generate third modified motion signals depending on the relationship of the pixel being processed to vertical change of motion of one or more of the images in the vertical direction; and a content adaptive motion control module arranged to generate the corrected motion signals in response to the third modified motion signals depending on the value of the pixel being processed.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the edge detector comprises a high pass filter.

11. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction and wherein the transfer function module comprises: a look up table defining a programmable transfer function altered in response to one or more of the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion one or more of the images less than a predetermined first threshold and the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images greater than a predetermined second threshold, the look up table being arranged to generate first modified motion signals in response to the initial motion signals; an edge detector responsive to the horizontal filtered signals to generate edge signals indicating one or more of the edges; an arithmetic operator arranged to combine the edge signals with the first modified motion signals to generate second modified motion signals; a horizontal line motion control module responsive to the second modified motion signals to generate third modified motion signals depending on the relationship of the pixel being processed to vertical change of motion of one or more of the images in the vertical direction; and a content adaptive motion control module arranged to generate the corrected motion signals in response to the third modified motion signals depending on the value of the pixel being processed.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the arithmetic operator comprises a multiply operator.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the horizontal line motion control module is responsive to the sum the initial motion signals for the second line.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 and further comprising an image sequence characterization module arranged to at least estimate the average DC value of the second pixels and to at least partially disable the first filter in the event that the DC value exceeds a predetermined threshold.

15. The apparatus of the claim 1 wherein the pixel first values comprise first luminance values and first chrominance values, wherein the pixel second values comprise second luminance values and second chrominance values, wherein the first filtered values comprise first filtered luminance values and first filtered chrominance values and wherein the apparatus comprises: a first luminance arithmetic operator arranged to generate first luminance arithmetic signals in response to first arithmetic relationships between the second luminance values and the first luminance values; and a first chrominance arithmetic operator arranged to generate first chrominance arithmetic signals in response to first arithmetic relationships between the second chrominance values and the first chrominance values, and wherein the first filter comprises: a chrominance adjust module arranged to generate adjusted chrominance motion signals in response to the corrected motion signals depending on the extent of correlation between the luminance values and chrominance values; a second luminance arithmetic operator arranged to generate second luminance arithmetic signals in response to second arithmetic relationships between the corrected motion signals and the first luminance arithmetic signals; a second chrominance arithmetic operator arranged to generate second chrominance arithmetic signals in response to second arithmetic relationships between the adjusted chrominance motion signals and the first chrominance arithmetic signals; a third luminance arithmetic operator arranged to generate the first filtered luminance values in response to third arithmetic relationships between the second luminance arithmetic signals and the second luminance values; and a third chrominance arithmetic operator arranged to generate the first filtered chrominance values in response to third arithmetic relationships between the second chrominance arithmetic signals and the pixel second values.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the first arithmetic relationships comprise one of adding and subtracting relationships, wherein the second arithmetic relationships comprises one of multiplying and dividing relationships and wherein the third arithmetic relationships comprise one of adding and subtracting relationships.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the step impulse detecting process comprises: generating a first signal if the absolute difference between the pixel value being processed and an adjacent pixel value is less than a difference threshold value; generating a second signal if the value of the pixel being processed is greater than a high level value or less than a law level value and the first signal is generated; counting the number of consecutive pixels for which the second signal is generated; and generating a third signal indicating a step impulse if the counting results in a number greater than a predetermined minimum number.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the impulse detector generates one of the control signals if a value of one of the corrected motion signals exceeds a motion threshold and the third signal is generated.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the impulse detector performs a process comprising: storing the predetermined minimum number and a plurality of additional predetermined minimum numbers of different values; performing the step impulse detecting process at least once for each of the predetermined minimum numbers; counting the number of step impulses corresponding to each of the predetermined minimum numbers to generate a plurality of step impulse counts; and determining the total number of pixels corresponding to each of the step impulse counts to generate a plurality of pixel counts.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the apparatus performs a process comprising: determining the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process; determining the fraction of the total number of pixels represented by each of the plurality of pixel counts to generate a plurality of fractions; staring a plurality of predetermined fraction values corresponding to the plurality of fractions; storing the first filtered values as the pixel first values if the plurality of fractions has a first predetermined relationship with respect to the plurality of predetermined fraction values; and storing the second filtered pixel values as the pixel first values if the plurality of fractions has a second predetermined relationship with respect to the plurality of predetermined fraction values.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the impulse reducer operates in a plurality of different modes and wherein the apparatus performs a process comprising: determining the maximum pixel count among the plurality of pixel counts; determining the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process; staring a plurality of predetermined fraction values corresponding to fractions of the total number of pixels processed; and selecting one of the plurality of different modes depending on the relationship between maximum pixel count and the plurality of predetermined fraction values.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the impulse detector detects step impulses having a plurality of lengths and wherein the apparatus performs a process comprising: storing the first filtered values as the pixel first values if the plurality of lengths have a first predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detection process; and storing the second filtered pixel values as the pixel first values if the plurality of lengths have a second predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the impulse detector detects step impulses having a plurality of lengths, wherein the impulse reducer operates in a plurality of modes and wherein the apparatus performs a process comprising: selecting a first one of the plurality of modes if the plurality of lengths have a first predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process; and selecting a second one of the plurality of modes if the plurality of lengths have a second predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the process further comprises selecting one of thy plurality of modes only if one of the corrected motion signals exceeds a motion threshold.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the impulse reducer comprises a median filter.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the plurality of modes of the filter comprise: a horizontal filter mode; a vertical filter mode; and a horizontal and vertical filter mode.

27. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the impulse reducer selects the pixel value that resides arithmetically in the middle of the distribution of pixel values presented to the impulse reducer.

28. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus processes the pixels on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

29. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first values comprise a first frame of data and the second values comprise a second frame of data.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the differences between the first values and second values are derived from pixels in like positions of the first frame and second frame.

31. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the pixel values comprise pixel luminance values.

32. A method of reducing random noise in video pixels having digital pixel values by processing the pixel values, said method comprising: storing filtered pixel first values corresponding to first pixels processed during a first time period; generating corrected motion signals in response to differences between the first values and pixel second values corresponding to second pixels processed during a second time period later than the first time period, the corrected motion signals representing detected motion of images represented by the first pixels relative to motion of images represented by the second pixels; generating first filtered values in response to the corrected motion signals and the differences between the first values and second values; performing a step impulse detecting process to generate control signals in response to detection of step impulses represented by the second pixels; and generating impulse-reduced pixel values in response to the first filtered values and the control signals.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the second pixels correspond to lines comprising a horizontal first line and a horizontal second line, wherein a pixel being processed lies in the first line, wherein the images define edges and wherein the generating corrected motion signals comprises: generating initial motion signals representing an estimate of the detected motion of images in response to pixels in the first and second lines and responsive to the differences between the first values and the second values; and generating the corrected motion signals in response to the initial motion signals and characteristics of the images.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein generating the corrected motion signals comprises summing the initial motion signals for the second line to generate horizontal line motion signals and generating the corrected motion signals in response to the horizontal line motion signals.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein generating the corrected motion signals comprises modifying the initial motion signals in response to coefficients and wherein the method further comprises: generating low motion signals having values derived from the second pixels corresponding to motion of one or more of the images less than a predetermined first threshold; generating high motion signals having values derived from the second pixels corresponding to motion of one or more of the images greater than a predetermined second threshold; and varying the coefficients in response to at least one of the low motion signals and the high motion signals.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, wherein the images represent edges and wherein the characteristics of the images comprise: the proportion of the area representing one or more of the images with motion greater than a predetermined first threshold or less than a predetermined second threshold; the relation of the pixel being processed to one or more of the edges; and a change in the vertical direction of one or more of the images.

37. The method of claim 33 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction and wherein the generating the corrected motion signals comprises generating the corrected motion signals in response to the initial motion signals, in response to the second pixels corresponding to motion of one or more of the images beyond a threshold, in response to the relationship of the pixel being processed to one or more of the edges, in response to the relationship of the pixel being processed to a change of motion of one or more of the images in the vertical direction, and in response to the value of the pixel being processed.

38. The method of claim 33 wherein the generating initial motion signals comprises: generating horizontal filtered signals in response to the differences between the first values and the second values and in response to pixel values in the horizontal first line; and generating vertical filtered signals corresponding to the initial motion signals in response to the horizontal filtered signals and pixel values in the first and second lines.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the generating the horizontal filtered signals comprises: generating absolute values corresponding to the differences between the first values and the second values; generating median filtered values in response to the absolute values; and finite impulse response filtering the median filtered values to generate the horizontal filtered signals.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction and wherein the generating the corrected motion signals comprises: defining a programmable transfer function altered in response to one or more of the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images less than a predetermined first threshold and the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images greater than a predetermined second threshold, the transfer function generating first modified motion signals in response to the initial motion signals; generating edge signals indicating one or more of the edges in response to the horizontal filtered signals; arithmetically combining the edge signals with the first modified motion signals to generate second modified motion signals; modifying the second modified motion signals to generate third modified motion signals depending on the relationship of the pixel being processed to vertical change of motion of one or more of the images in the vertical direction; and generating the corrected motion signals in response to the third modified motion signals depending on the value of the pixel being processed.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the generating edge signals comprises high pass filtering.

42. The method of claim 38 wherein the second pixels correspond to an area defining a horizontal direction and a vertical direction and wherein the generating the corrected motion signals comprises: defining a programmable transfer function altered in response to one or more of the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images less than a predetermined first threshold and the extent to which the second pixels correspond to motion of one or more of the images greater than a predetermined second threshold, the transfer function generating first modified motion signals in response to the initial motion signals; generating edge signals indicating one or more of the edges in response to the horizontal filtered signals; arithmetically combining the edge signals with the first modified motion signals to generate second modified motion signals; generating third modified motion signals depending on the relationship of the pixel being processed to vertical change of motion of one or more of the images in the vertical direction in response to the second modified motion signals; and generating the corrected motion signals in response to the third modified motion signals depending on the value of the pixel being processed.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the arithmetically combining comprises multiplying.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein the generating third modified motion signals is responsive to the sum the initial motion signals for the second line.

45. The method of claim 32 and further comprising at least estimating the average DC value of the second pixels and at least partially disabling the generating of the first filtered values in the event that the DC value exceeds a predetermined threshold.

46. The method of the claim 32 wherein the pixel first values comprise first luminance values and first chrominance values, wherein the pixel second values comprise second luminance values and second chrominance values, wherein the first filtered values comprise first filtered luminance values and first filtered chrominance values and wherein the method comprises: generating first luminance arithmetic signals in response to first arithmetic relationships between the second luminance values and the first luminance values; and generating first chrominance arithmetic signals in response to first arithmetic relationships between the second chrominance values and the first chrominance values, and wherein the generating first filtered values comprises: generating adjusted chrominance motion signals in response to the corrected motion signals depending on the extent of correlation between the luminance values and chrominance values; generating second luminance arithmetic signals in response to second arithmetic relationships between the corrected motion signals and the first luminance arithmetic signals; generating second chrominance arithmetic signals in response to second arithmetic relationships between the adjusted chrominance motion signals and the first chrominance arithmetic signals; generating the first filtered luminance values in response to third arithmetic relationships between the second luminance arithmetic signals and the second luminance values; and generating the first filtered chrominance values in response to third arithmetic relationships between the second chrominance arithmetic signals and the pixel second values.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein the first arithmetic relationships comprise one of adding and subtracting relationships, wherein the second arithmetic relationships comprises one of multiplying and dividing relationships and wherein the third arithmetic relationships comprise one of adding and subtracting relationships.

48. The method or claim 32 wherein the step impulse detecting process comprises: generating a first signal if the absolute difference between the pixel value being processed and an adjacent pixel value is less than a difference threshold value; generating a second signal if the value of the pixel being processed is greater than a high level value or less than a low level value and the first signal is generated; counting the number of consecutive pixels for which the second signal is generated; and generating a third signal indicating a step impulse if the counting results in a number greater than a predetermined minimum number.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein one of the control signals is generated if a value of one of the corrected motion signals exceeds a motion threshold and the third signal is generated.

50. The method of claim 48 and further comprising: storing the predetermined minimum number and a plurality of additional predetermined minimum numbers of different values; performing the step impulse detecting process at least once for each of the predetermined minimum numbers; counting the number of step impulses corresponding to each of the predetermined minimum numbers to generate a plurality of step impulse counts; and determining the total number of pixels corresponding to each of the step impulse counts to generate a plurality of pixel counts.

51. The method of claim 50 , and further comprising: determining the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process; determining the fraction of the total number of pixels represented by each of the plurality of pixel counts to generate a plurality of fractions; storing a plurality of predetermined fraction values corresponding to the plurality of fractions; storing the first filtered values as the pixel first values if the plurality of fractions has a first predetermined relationship with respect to the plurality of predetermined fraction values; and storing the second filtered pixel values as the pixel first values if the plurality of fractions has a second predetermined relationship with respect to the plurality of predetermined fraction values.

52. The method of claim 50 wherein generating impulse-reduced pixel values operates in a plurality of different modes and wherein the method further comprises: determining the maximum pixel count among the plurality of pixel counts; determining the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process; storing a plurality of predetermined fraction values corresponding to fractions of the total number of pixels processed; and selecting one of the plurality of different modes depending on the relationship between maximum pixel count and the plurality of predetermined fraction values.

53. The method of claim 32 wherein the step impulse detecting process detects step impulses having a plurality of lengths and wherein the method further comprises: storing the first filtered values as the pixel first values if the plurality of lengths have a first predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detection process; and storing the second filtered pixel values as the pixel first values if the plurality of lengths have a second predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process.

54. The method of claim 32 wherein the step impulse detecting process detects step impulses having a plurality of lengths, wherein the generating impulse-reduced pixel values operates in a plurality of operating modes and wherein the method further comprises: selecting a first one of the plurality of operating modes if the plurality of lengths have a first predetermined relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process; and selecting a second one of the plurality of operating modes if the plurality of lengths have a second predetermines relationship with respect to the total number of pixels processed during the step impulse detecting process.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein the process further comprises selecting one of the plurality of operating modes only if one of the corrected motion signals exceeds a motion threshold.

56. The method of claim 54 wherein the generating impulse-reduced values comprises median filtering.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the plurality of operating modes comprises: a horizontal filter mode; a vertical filter mode; and a horizontal and vertical filter mode.

58. The method of claim 55 wherein the generating impulse-reduced pixel values comprises selecting the pixel value that resides arithmetically in the middle of the distribution of pixel values evaluated during generating impulse-reduced pixel values.

59. The method of claim 32 comprising processing the pixels on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

60. The method of claim 32 wherein the first values comprise a first frame of data and the second values comprise a second frame of data.

61. The method of claim 60 wherein the differences between the first values and second values are derived from pixels in like positions of the first frame and second frame.

62. The method of claim 32 wherein the pixel values comprise pixel luminance values.